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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 10 Hansard (29 August) . . Page.. 3013 ..

MRS DUNNE (continuing):

previous government's proposals were good but another one should be brought in. We should be looking at putting renewable energy sources into government housing because this will have a multiple effect. In addition to being a renewable energy source, the cost to people on welfare of running a household will be cut.

I cannot let the opportunity pass to talk about Gungahlin Drive. What a monstrosity we have here. What this government is proposing to do is put a scar five metres deep and 60 to 70 metres wide through the Bruce precinct. This is bad town planning. A close associate of mine said to me recently, "I was always an advocate of the western route until I saw what PALM and RoadsACT were proposing." There is going to be a hideous scar not just through the Bruce precinct but up Bruce Ridge. Because of the way it is being proposed to construct the road, the cutting through the Bruce Ridge woodland will be 12 metres deep and in excess of 80 metres wide. These people are environmental vandals; they are planning vandals.

Mr Quinlan: They are building a hot town.

MRS DUNNE: We will get to that later. These people are environmental vandals. The way in which this whole Gungahlin Drive proposal has been dealt with shows the embarrassment of this government. It put forward a proposal that it could never meet. When the Estimates Committee asks for regular updating about what will happen, they say, "Look, we're already doing it." It is hidden away on a website somewhere. But this minister changes his mind. He prevaricates, he bobs and he weaves.

What this means is that the people of Gungahlin do not know when the road will be built. The way things are going-and mark my words, Mr Speaker-they will never build the western route. They will eventually build the eastern route and the people of Gungahlin will have been left waiting for years and years for something that they could have started two months ago.

Then we get the problem of Aranda-the environmental vandalism that this minister and this department propose to inflict upon the people of Aranda. What are they going to do to the 1960s bush capital model par excellence? We are going to see masonry walls at least two metres high, 40 metres from people's houses. This is environmental vandalism. It is a disgrace that it is even being suggested in this place by a government that beats its chest and prides itself on its environmental record.

MR SMYTH (11.21): Mr Speaker, I also would say a few words on the Urban Services portfolio. As Mr Pratt put so eloquently, the paid parking at Tuggeranong is another indication of the secretive government that we have. Without any work being done and without any consultation, they have decided to impose paid parking on the people of Belconnen and Tuggeranong, and in particular on the students and the staff at Tuggeranong College. We end up with the bizarre situation where education dollars may be used to purchase from Urban Service parking for teachers rather than being spent inside the school gate, as we have heard so often those opposite advocate. I think this is a case study of how this government operates. It is very instructive. The answers that were obtained in the Estimates Committee hearings are even more instructive. We were told, "We've done it. Now we'll do some work on it."

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